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Ex-Bears, farmhands suing MLB over back wages

Kary Booher, News-Leader 8:35 a.m. CDT July 3, 2014

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Former Missouri State and Springfield Cardinals pitcher Matt Frevert, right, is one of a group of 32 former minor leaguers who are part of a lawsuit filed against Major League Baseball.(Photo: News-Leader file photo, 2011)Buy Photo

Former Springfield Cardinals pitcher Matt Frevert still remembers the low paychecks of the minor leagues, the seasons when he and two or three teammates would share an apartment and think of creative ways of to stretch a dollar.

It was a life in which Double-A players earn all of maybe $7,500 — and are paid only during the season.

But that pay is not good enough, Frevert all but said Wednesday, when it became clear that the former Missouri State standout and two former Bears are helping to throw a brush-back pitch of sorts against Major League Baseball.

Frevert and former Bears Matt Lawson and Aaron Meade — all out of pro baseball these days — recently joined a class-action lawsuit that claims minor leaguers have lived below the poverty line too long and deserve better wages.

The lawsuit accuses Major League Baseball of violating the 1938 congressionally approved Fair Labor Standards Act by suppressing wages.

"The No. 1 reason why, for me, I'm trying to change the game is for future players," Frevert said in a phone interview. "It's not for guys who are like me who have nothing to do with the game anymore. It's so (current players) have equal compensation to get what they well deserve."

According to the lawsuit, "Most minor leaguers earn between around $3,000 and $7,500 for the entire year despite routinely working over 50 hours per week (and sometimes 70 hours per week) during the championship season."

Farmhands do not receive overtime pay and are not paid at all during spring training, according to the lawsuit.

Who's suing

Frevert, Lawson and Meade are among 32 plaintiffs, minor leaguer-turned-attorney Garrett Broshuis confirmed Wednesday after furnishing a copy of the lawsuit.

Frevert, a pitcher drafted in the 28th round in 2008, was a part of Springfield's 2011 team, his final season in pro baseball. He now works for a Columbia-based company that sells hunting products.

Lawson was an infielder in the Rangers, Mariners and Indians organizations from 2007 to 2013 after being a 14th-round draft selection. He was an assistant coach for Missouri State this past season. Meade, a left-hander, was a 10th-round draft pick in 2010 but was out of affiliated baseball two years later.

"Hopefully this will effect some changes," Broshuis said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Nobody is asking minor leaguers to be rich."

How much extra?

Only $1 million extra per season and per organization would help boost salaries, Broshuis said.

If successful, the boost would translate to $5,000 extra per minor leaguer, because most organizations carry roughly 200 minor leaguers on seven teams from Triple-A down to the rookie leagues.

For players who didn't haul in $1 million or more in signing bonuses — or didn't come close to six-figure signing bonuses — the increase would be significant, Frevert acknowledged.

For instance, first-year players in Double-A — the classification of the Springfield club — earn about $1,600 a month. Many rely on fast food during the season and can only land part-time jobs during the offseason, Frevert acknowledged.

Some do substitute teaching. Others work in factories. Frevert, for instance, worked at a bar and grill.

All of which are reasons that Frevert hopes the suit will help educate fans who say minor leaguers should be happy to play a sport for a living and agreed to contracts in the first place.

"I understand people's points. You get to play a game," Frevert said and acknowledged that he, like many players, negotiated MLB paying for a portion of college after their careers end. But …

"You have the base salary and when you get down to it, it was just enough to get by," Frevert said. "Everybody sees these huge contracts everybody's signing and that it's a trickle-down effect. But it's not something that happens."

Man behind the suit

Frevert's comments came in a conference call with Broshuis, whose St. Louis-based firm Korein Tillery is spear-heading the lawsuit.

Broshuis was a fourth-round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2004. The former University of Missouri pitcher received a bonus of $160,000, according to Baseball America.

"This is an $8 billion industry where revenue is growing," said Broshuis, whose career ended in 2009.

The lawsuit names all 30 MLB clubs and goes so far as to call MLB "a cartel." It was filed in February in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, and a court conference is scheduled for July 11.

The lawsuit points out those minor leaguers are not part of the powerful Major League Baseball Players Association, a union that has greatly improved salaries in the past three decades.

The lawsuit reads in part, "For example, while major leaguers' salaries have increased by more than 2,000 percent since 1976, minor leaguers' salaries have, on average, increased only 75 percent since that time. Meanwhile, inflation has risen by more than 400 percent over that same time."

• Minor leaguers' salaries range between $1,100 a month in short-season leagues (the low minors) to $2,150 a month in Triple-A, according to trade publication Baseball America. First-year players in Double-A receive about $1,600 a month. Keep in mind that minor leaguers are not members of the Major League Baseball Players Association, which last December released a report noting that the average salary in MLB last season was $3.39 million.

• Requirements: Players generally report to the ballpark by 2 p.m. and leave after the game, sometimes staying until almost midnight in order to perform mandatory weight training.

• What they aren't paid for: A month-long spring training; the offseason, when many train ahead of spring training.

• Meal money: Each player receives $25 per day in meal money — but only when his team is on the road. However, each player also is responsible for paying the clubhouse manager a daily fee in order to wash uniforms.

• Stretching dollars: Minor leaguers say they fall back on eating fast food in order to save money. It's not ideal, given they are required to be in prime athletic shape. That said, a growing number of minor league clubs these days such as the Springfield Cardinals get post-game meals sponsored by local restaurants (non-fast food). That has helped players stretch their dollars. Several players also go in on renting an apartment in-season.

• Better pay: Not all minor leaguers suffer. Baseball teams have what they call a 40-man roster. It covers the 25 big-leaguers and an additional 15 minor leaguers. If added to that roster before the prior Collective Bargaining Agreement expired in 2011, a minor leaguer could make $32,500 in the first year and $65,000 in the second year. That figure has risen to $78,250, according to SB Nation, citing the latest CBA. The Springfield Cardinals have three players on St. Louis' 40-man roster — shortstop Aledmys Diaz and outfielders Mike O'Neill and Rafael Ortega.

• Pay up front: The best way to make it through the minors without struggling financially? Be talented enough to earn a healthy signing bonus as a high draft pick. All draftees receive some sort of signing bonus. For instance, the St. Louis Cardinals paid out $7.2 million in bonuses for 2013 draft picks, according to trade publication Baseball America. Generally, the higher draft pick receives the larger bonus. Shelby Miller, then a high school pitcher, signed for $2.875 million in 2009.

• Negotiate: Before signing their first contracts, many players negotiate for organizations to pay for their college, or a portion of it.

• Make it to MLB: The minimum annual salary in the major leagues this year is just shy of $500,000.